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City Of Sheridan Having Some Difficulty Retaining And Recruiting City Employees
Published
2 years agoon
Sheridan’s cost of living along with the city’s pay rate are working against the city when it comes to recruiting and retaining city employees.
At Monday’s Sheridan’s City Council meeting, Human Resources Director Heather Doke said since 2017, the city has seen a 10-15% turnover rate each year.
The rate was 13%, or 24 employees last year, six of which retired, while the other 18 left for jobs with more pay.
Doke says it costs the city about 6-to-9 months of an employee’s pay to replace them and last year it cost the city between $628-thousand to $1 million.
So far this year, eight employees have either left or given notice, three of which retired, while the rest left for either better pay or better benefits.
If the trend continues, the city stands to lose a total of 36 employees by the end of the year and so far the city has received about half of the number of job applicants compared to this time last year.
In terms of cost of living, not counting Jackson, Sheridan was number two in the state, and was tied with Gillette at number two, in cost of living index.
Cheyenne was number one in both categories.
At the city council meeting Doke read an email from a firefighter applicant out of Colorado, who had to turn down a job offer.
“With inflation like it is, and the mortgage rates going up as drastic as they are, we just could not do it. It would have made our mortgage payment go up nearly $1,000 a month. Our hopes were to purchase a home similar to what we have, and possibly a few acres. Had this been a year or two ago, we would be calling Sheridan home.”
Doke added that in a pay survey of six fire departments in Wyoming, Sheridan was last of the six.
A pay survey of 10 police departments in Wyoming, showed that Sheridan was number eight.
In the past 17 years, the Sheridan Police Department has been fully staffed for a total of only four months.
Doke says sometimes, officers are going to the Sheriff’s Department for more pay.
Phil Boice
February 9, 2023 at 9:31 am
You’d think….
With the cost of replacing employees, they’d step up to the plate and at least try to negotiate to retain some of these people. There are other businesses in town who are struggling with retention as well, they charge just as much for their services as other towns, but refuse to pay. So, people are leaving, or taking other jobs. I understand that revenues would have to increase, BUT, for this $685-$1M per year to train new employees, some retention incentives could be worked out and actually save money. The VA is doing it, $1000’s of $$$ to keep people, a few others have seen the light… Cost of living in Sheridan is stupid high.
Nikki Hohbach
February 9, 2023 at 10:09 am
The city does not pay enough for what they ask their (outside) employee’s to do. Has anyone noticed how expensive dat-to-day life has become??!!! It’s a shame. The people in charge ask why so many people are leaving….that’s a huge reason why.